Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-two analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $4,972.75.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Booking from $4,205.00 to $5,155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $4,872.42 on Thursday. Booking has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,056.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,338.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.06, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Booking by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 967 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,831,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Booking by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,273,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $333,000. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 10.8% during the second quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.